Freescale delivers 32-bit MCU to BMW

Editor: Anke Schröter

Freescale Semiconductor developed a high-performance microcontroller (MCU) in collaboration with German automaker, the BMW Group. The 32-bit MCU is to be used in BMW’s 2010 luxury sports activity vehicles (SAVs).

Freescale worked with the BMW Group for over a year - through each design phase from initial concept to the first prototype car - to help provide solutions to the challenges posed by the exponential increase in network traffic between electronic subsystems. The 12-month schedule was challenging; however, both parties were closely aligned and Freescale was able to deliver silicon at the end of 12 months, which BMW successfully tested in a prototype car two weeks later.

“We are extremely proud of this cooperation with the BMW Group as the trend toward more centralized data fusion within vehicles continues to require higher-speed processing capabilities,” said Henri Richard, senior vice president of Freescale’s global sales and marketing.

“Electronics are expected to represent 35% of the average cost of a vehicle this year. Freescale technology ultimately will help drive more sophisticated but still highly reliable in-vehicle networking capabilities to handle the increasing electronic content in these intelligent automobiles.”